Why? What happened? They always seem to be busy, they're friendly, I'm sure they're making their rent...

My opinions:

Of the customers sitting about, a fair number of them didn't spend much money. I'm thinking of one guy in particular, who, for all the time I saw him there never did I see him buy anything. Never.

Then there were the bus drivers. They would park the rigs, stop at Betty's to use the restroom and then go to Holiday to pay $.50 less on a crappy cup of coffee. That always pissed me off - especially when they left the bus running so that the other, sometimes paying customers would have to talk over the din.

Then there was the weather and road repair. Tom needed good evening/weekend weather to draw the crowds in, and for much of the summer he just didn't get it. Add to that the road construction that caused right thinking people to avoid the area all together, and he just couldn't dig out of the hole that the winter months left him in.

I'm saddened but amazed that they held in there as long as they did. People who have not run a restaurant always underestimate how expensive it actually is, especially a food business. It's raw reality and, these days, you can only do it while you subsidize it artificially by feeding it your savings and pounds of your flesh.

1) Many customers, as Spikehead points out, are cheap
2) Government regs are stacked against you, especially local inspectors.
3) Managing employees sucks! A $10/hr employee costs you $20/hr
4) All the hidden costs (insurance, phones, utilities, repairs) kill you

America is in the process of KILLING off mom-n-pop businesses so we will only have Mall Warts in the future. How do you compete with Starbucks who gets coffee for a nickle a cup and pay about the same for a shitty muffin?

I stopped by about 4 pm today. They were moving things out. Tom, the owner, was there and we talked briefly. I did not ask him, and he did not tell me why they were closing. He said that he was behind on one account, but that creditor was willing to restructure that debt. He said that the full story would come out in the near future.
He also said that they may reopen. Time will tell.
Tom